


Like Holding Back the Tide

by Drag0nst0rm



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Dark, Destiny Always Wins, Gen, Or Happy, depending on your point of view
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 05:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7744885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drag0nst0rm/pseuds/Drag0nst0rm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin was three years old when the knights came for Balinor.</p>
<p>Arthur was five when he made friends with a warlock.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like Holding Back the Tide

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Merlin.

_Merlin was three years old when the knights came for Balinor._

. . . . .

Arthur was five when he met the other boy for the first time. He had been crying because the gash on his knee hurt quite a bit, but he'd been trying not to, because his father had looked at him, full of disappointment, and said that princes didn't cry.

He jumped to his feet hastily and scrubbed at his face. "What do you want?" he demanded angrily.

The boy held out a ball. "Wanna play?"

The boy was younger than him and even at five, Arthur knew that he wasn't one of the noble's sons. His father wouldn't approve of him playing with a peasant.

"No," he said sullenly.

"Oh." The boy peered at him and pointed at his knee. "Ouch."

"It doesn't hurt," Arthur lied.

The other boy looked enormously impressed. "How'd you get it?"

Arthur may have exaggerated the story a little, but the basics remained the same, and by the end of the day, they were chasing the ball all over the castle.

"What's your name?" Arthur finally remembered to ask.

"Got two, but I can only tell you one," he said with all the solemnity a three year old could muster.

"I've got two names too, but I'll only tell you the first one," Arthur countered immediately. "I'm Arthur." Normally, he would have rolled out his status as a prince ages ago, but he'd kept his mouth shut this time. He didn't want to scare the other boy off.

"Okay," the boy agreed with a blinding smile. "You can call me Merlin."

. . . . .

_They burned down the whole village. Balinor went to fight them. Hunith grabbed Merlin and ran for the woods._

. . . . .

"What's it like, being a prince?" Merlin was ten now and had long ago learned that inconsequential fact.

Arthur threw himself into the hay with a huff. "Stupid. You're not allowed to do anything and Father - " He shut his mouth.

Merlin's face grew almost frightening in its darkness. "I know," he said. "I don't like him."

"He's the king," Arthur said halfheartedly.

"Shouldn't your first protest have been he's your father?" He tossed Arthur an apple from the barrel and started juggling three more.

"He killed her," Arthur said quietly. "He had her drowned. She was our age."

More apples drifted of their own accord out of the barrel into Merlin's capable hands. Arthur was too used to it to be bothered. No one came here but them.

"Aren't you going to eat one of those?"

Merlin shrugged, face still dark. "Not hungry."

"I won't let him hurt you," Arthur promised. "Don't worry so much."

Merlin laughed, and all was golden in his face again. "It's you I worry about. He doesn't even know I exist."

. . . . .

_"Hide here, Merlin. Don't come out, no matter what."_

. . . . .

Merlin scowled at Morgana as she rode into the courtyard. "I don't like her."

"Her parents are dead. Give her a little sympathy."

"My parents are dead too," he pointed out. "And so is Gwen's mother, and your mother, and we'd all be better off if your father - "

"Merlin," he hissed under his breath.

He at least waited until the group of knights had passed by before he continued. "Anyway, this has nothing to do with her personality."

"Or the fact that I've been spending more time with her lately and less with you?"

Merlin's eyes followed her carefully. He relaxed. "I suppose you're right. I'm being ridiculous."

Something about it didn't sound right. "Not ridiculous. Just . . . cautious."

"Paranoid."

"Your usual self, in other words."

"Hey!"

 

Morgana tripped down a flight of stairs and broke her skull. Gaius couldn't save her.

"I'm sorry," Merlin breathed at her bedside.

Gaius, sitting on the other side, didn't ask what for. He didn't say a word as Merlin walked away, but the warlock thought he might be crying.

At least Arthur was safe.

. . . . .

_There was blood on the forest floor, and Merlin couldn't help crying for his mother. He didn't want to, he knew he wasn't supposed to, but he wanted her. Now. Where was she?_

_One of the shiny men with the cloaks like blood turned towards the bushes where he was hiding. "What have we here?"_

_Merlin ran._

. . . . .

At his knighting ceremony, Merlin clapped the hardest. His face was shining. "Well done," he enthused.

Arthur grinned at him. A lady, thinking the smile was for her, fell over herself to go congratulate him. Merlin rolled his eyes.

It was the last moment of levity for a while.

Uther wanted his son to go hunt down a tribe of druids.

"What should I do?" Arthur asked him, white faced, later. "I can't let them die."

"I'll warn them when we get close," Merlin assured him. "You'll never catch up with them."

Merlin warned the tribe's seer in dreams.

"How can they constantly know our every movement?" Sir Bors demanded.

Arthur looked at him like he was an idiot. "Magic."

Technically, true.

. . . . .

_The trees themselves tried to slow the path of the running knights. Magic rose up from the earth to aid the young Emrys._

_He ran, tiny heart pounding. He fell. He pushed himself to his feet. Blood spattered his knees._

. . . . .

"I love Samhein. Magic's so much stronger this time of year."

Merlin did always seem more vibrant on the holiday. "Only you would dare say that in the middle of the citadel," Arthur said.

"Only I could get away with it. And to the prince, too." Merlin peered around the pillar they were hiding behind. "I think Princess Vivian's gone if you want to come out now."

Arthur grimaced. "I suppose I'd better."

"Steal some of the sweets for Gwen," he suggested. "She loves them, and there's never enough time to eat, preparing for these things."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll - " Merlin jerked back behind the pillar. "Remind me again why you had to allow Mordred to be Sir Kay's servant?"

"I could hardly stop it," he pointed out. "What's wrong with him?"

"He knows," Merlin said darkly. "And he's trying to get rid of me. I'd return the favor, but he keeps getting away from me. He's laid so many traps in the castle I can barely turn around anymore."

Something hardened in Arthur's face. "I'll take care of it," he promised.

He did.

. . . . .

_He fell again. This time he twisted his ankle._

_The knights were getting closer._

_He tried to run, but he fell again. He was crying as he dragged himself away._

. . . . .

"You saved my life back there," Arthur said. "Thank you."

"Well, I could hardly let the new king get killed on his coronation day," Merlin said, waving a hand dismissively. "Think what it would have done to Guinevere."

"Right," Arthur drawled.

Merlin grinned. "It wasn't even an enchanted knife. It was so easy it wasn't even fun."

"I'll make a royal proclamation that all assassins must be more amusing in the future."

"As long as amusing doesn't equal competent."

"Mm." He glanced at him sideways. "What am I supposed to tell everyone happened to the assassin?"

"Magic is legal now. Someone getting strangled by invisible hands isn't out of the question."

"Yes, but who should I say did it?"

"You could claim you have magic."

"Really, Merlin?"

He shrugged. "You have me. That's close enough."

"I wish I could just give you credit," he grumbled. "You deserve more than you get."

"Anything for you, Arthur. You know that's all I care about."

They were silent for a long while. "You aren't leaving, are you?" Arthur finally blurted out. "Now that I'm king?"

"What, you think just because you're king means you won't need me anymore?"

"I know full well I do."

"Then I'm staying. Even if I can't be your Court Warlock."

"It _is_ hard to promote someone no one else can see."

"True. Think maybe Gaius could make up a potion for that?"

The words were a joke, but Arthur took them seriously. "I'll ask."

"Really?" He brightened.

"Of course, that would mean Gwaine could chase you when you were started playing at being a poltergeist in his room . . . "

"Other people deserve the joys of a personal haunting too, Arthur. Don't be greedy."

. . . . .

_He was just a child._

_That didn't stop the knight's sword from plunging down._

_Destiny sighed and made arrangements._


End file.
